Nostrum Nox Noctis
by Razgriz Ace
Summary: The chirping of crickets plays over the trees, the insects unaware that they are scoring a pivotal scene in the lives of these two people. The setting is all together mild, peaceful, and it doesn't match the moment at all.


Disclaimer: They aren't mine. But you knew that already.

A/N: People have done this moment before, but I wanted to try something a little more Raw. Please review.

**Nostrum Nox Noctis**

The grass crunches beneath his feet. The air is moist with dew that has yet to settle on the lawn. He sees her shoulders tense as he approaches.

"Please…just leave. I can't do this. Not right now."

"Nymphadora, I-…" he stops short, not sure what he has to say. Something twists inside him when she fails to remind him of her surname.

He can see she's wiping her eyes and the knot in his heart pulls tighter. Subconsciously, he rubs his hand over his chest trying to will the feeling away, to burry it to protect them both. It was the only way to end this for good. The only way to save her.

"I get it Remus," she turns to him finally; her eyes red from tears, but her jaw set, determined not to shed any more. He can tell she is struggling to keep her voice steady. She's looks totally defeated. "I really do. And I'm sorry I embarrassed us back there. It-It's just-," she sighs. "It has all been hard for me to grasp. I …I suppose I didn't want to believe that a love this deep…that a feeling as powerful as this could be one sided."

Before he can think about it, before his brain gets the chance to apply the logic he's relied so heavily on, his heart squeezes out his response.

"We both know that's not true, Dora. You just…just deserve better than me."

She snorts a sick and bitter laugh and turns away from him. "Just go Remus."

His feet move of their own accord. He wants to leave, to get as far away from her as possible, but he finds himself stepping around her, overcome with the need to make her understand. He gently grabs her shoulders.

"You have to know…you have to be able to see that this is for the best."

Her hand shoots forward and slams into his face.

The slap reverberates in the trees around them.

She is angry. There is fire in her eyes and while he braces himself for her onslaught, he is secretly relieved to see an emotion from her other than pain. He thinks this is what she needs. She'll be alright if she can start to hate him.

"Don't you dare!" she yells. "You think being involved with a werewolf would be such a _burden_ to me?! You think that what people do and say because of our relationship would kill my spirit?! Well I've got news for you Remus, nothing and no one could have done a better job breaking me than you! I don't care about your age, your money, or your lycanthropy, because with all of it or none of it you are still you. And that man is everything to me." She once again puts her back to him and turns towards the lake. She raises her wand, "Expecto Patronum!"

It isn't a strong casting, he thinks she is probably too emotional for that, but before the silver whips fade into the night air he sees the distinct outline of a wolf.

It's changed shapes.

For him.

"So don't patronize me," her yelling has stopped, and the hurt and the defeat flood back into her voice. "Don't tell me that I didn't know what I was doing falling in love with you. I was ready to commit my life to you and to the Order. And now, Dumbledore's dead and you…Well…I've got nothing left have I? Nothing to lose and certainly nothing else to give."

He stands, rooted deeper than the Whomping Willow, in a stunned silence. The realization of what he's done to her cripples him. Then it happens. All his resolve, all his logic, all the damn lies he's told himself shatter, everything replaced with an overwhelming need to be with the woman in front of him. The love he's been repressing floods every part of him before oozing its way to the surface, and in that very moment he _knows_. He's been a total fool. A complete and utter coward. Suddenly, the thought of spending another day without her rips at him, more powerful and more painful than any transformation.

She seems to notice the change in his posture and sense that he's not going to leave. She begins a brisk walk back toward the castle, clearly wishing to be out of his presence.

"Dora! Dora wait!"

She does not acknowledge him.

Panic seizes him momentarily, and for a few seconds he's rendered helpless by the fear that he won't be able to undo this, that now that he's finally come to his senses, he's been unfortunate enough to have succeeded in pushing her away. But there's a fire lit in the bottom of his heart now, and it pumps Gryffindor courage straight into his veins. Then, for a fraction of a second, a moment so quick he knows he fabricated it, he feels Sirius and James behind him, a hand on each of his shoulders, silently acknowledging that he's a prat, and shoving him in her direction.

He runs after her. Mere feet from where they started, he seizes her wrist and pulls her to him.

"Let go of me!"

"I love you," he says softly. His brain clouds over, confused as to why he hasn't been telling her this all year.

She pushes him away and he wraps an arm around her waist to prevent her escape.

Her wand falls unnoticed in the grass next to them. The chirping of crickets plays over the trees, the insects unaware that they are scoring a pivotal scene in the lives of these two people. A gentle breeze rolls through the grounds. The crescent moon smiles ironically at them through a thin cluster of clouds. The setting is peaceful, all together mild, and it doesn't match the moment at all.

"Dora, I love you," he repeats.

"Stop it!" she yells as she struggles to get out of his arms.

"I love you," he asserts again.

"Don't say that," she turns in his arms and punches him in the chest. "Stop saying that! You don't mean it!" She's crying again, as she continues to pummel him.

He does nothing to shield her blows, convinced he deserves so much worse than this.

"I love you. Nymphadora Tonks, I love you," he runs his hands up and down her shoulders in an attempt to soothe her, to get her to listen.

Slowly, her onslaught slows, then stops. Still, she won't look at him. He pulls her tight against him, holding her the way he's always wanted, but she makes no attempt to return the embrace.

"I love you," he says yet again, "I'm so sorry. I've loved you for so long, Dora. Only you. Always you."

She lets out a sob and buries her head in his shoulder and he can feel her tears on his neck. He realizes, as he begins to stroke her hair, that his own face is wet, though he is unsure when his desperation manifested itself this way.

"I'm sorry," he continues his plea softly, "I'm a fool. I've been wrong, so very wrong about all of this."

Her eyes are shut tightly, but he hears a soft squeak of, "I love you." Her arms slide up around his neck, and she clings to him.

"I belong to you, heart and soul. Dora, you have all of me," he tells her, placing absent kisses into her hair. He can't tell for sure, but there seems to be a slight pigment change to her roots.

"That's all I've ever needed from you," she whispers into his neck, "Can't you see Remus, it's all I'll ever need."

End.

AN: The title means "Our Night" in Latin

AN2: Updated to fix a few little errors.


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